Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How do I get it to only heat up to 90 degrees?! I left it alone overnight, after twisting the little "adjustor screw" in the "decrease" direction as far as I could (easier to adjust the temperature up than down, right?), but when I woke up this morning it was at 105 degrees!
So, I tried twisting the screw the other way, thinking maybe that'd help...nope, temperature went right back up! (I left the top off for a while so that the temperature would go down to about 85 degrees)

Could I have put it together wrong? Am I not waiting long enough for things to stabilize? The instructions for chickens said wait half a day; it's been close to 24 hours and I can't figure this thing out!

The eggs are still in with the mother and the one on top that I can see has a long, shallow indent in it, is that normal?

My female just HAD to pick the week my brain would be the most fried!

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.0.1 california kingsnake (Tetris)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Voltaire

I haven't owned a hovabator for 20 years, but I don't think they've changed any. When you remove the top, you should see a 3" brass colored disk (wafer) that is on the end of the adjustment screw. This should be located just above a small black plastic box that containts the electrical switch for the thermostat. You should be able to loosen the locking nut and screw the adjuster down until the wafer pushes on the microswitch and makes an audible click. When the wafer is adjusted down onto the switch, this should switch off the heating element. It sounds like yours is never switching off. Either you aren't adjusting the wafer low enough, the wafer isn't aligned properly to the switch, or the unit may be defective. It's a pretty simple arrangement and I hope you can figure it out with this description.
Paul

I'll unplug the incubator and then give that a try. When I put it together I didn't notice a click, so perhaps that's my problem.

Thanks!

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.0.1 california kingsnake (Tetris)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Voltaire

I have never felt as blonde as I do now - I put the wafer in upside down. Switched it around and listened for the click like you described, and wa-la, it works.

I guess the IQ of the operator has to be at least 10 points higher than that of the machine being operated...

~jenny
-----
1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.0.1 california kingsnake (Tetris)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Voltaire

Hovabators can be tricky to setup but still can work quite well. Do you have the turbo model? If so, be careful you don't dry out the eggs. If you have an external temp controller, use that instead of the wafer.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

I went for the cheapest model I could find, so I doubt it's the turbo.

Got it working, though. Just had a bit of a blonde moment.

~jenny
-----
1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.0.1 california kingsnake (Tetris)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Voltaire

How are you setting up the eggs? They should be in an egg box or inner chamber inside the hovabator. If you do this, also keep in mind that the temp surrounding the inner chamber may be different than the temp inside it.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

oh, phooey, i forgot about that. i'll pilfer a digital thermometer from one of my other tanks and use that until i get paid and can get another one.

Thanks for the tip!

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.0.1 california kingsnake (Tetris)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Voltaire

I use the turbo-fan model, cover only, mounted on top of a 2' x 2' x 3' styrofoam box. A slightly smaller box fits inside with a glass cover for my eggs. I can fill it with about 50 eggs. I make up a "chart" showing the eggs laid date, so eggs can be placed in smaller container when they start pipping. This avoids babies "running" all over the other eggs. This works well for me and everything is hooked up to a Herpstat.
I have two of these units. One for colubrids and BP's.

P.S. Every couple years the wafer switch combo is changed.

Mike

From what I have read dented eggs indicate too low of humidity.
Can someone with more experience elaborate. New eggs should not be dented.........They usually dent or deflate just before hatching.

Now that they're incubator the denting isn't so obvious. That's what I suspected, so hopefully being in the vermaculite will help.

~jenny
-----
1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.0.1 california kingsnake (Tetris)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Voltaire